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World War Z

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World War Z
The cover of World War Z
First edition cover
AuthorMax Brooks
LanguageEnglish
GenreHorror, Satirical novel
PublisherCrown
Publication date
September 12, 2006
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback/Paperback), Ebook, Audiobook
Pages352 pp
ISBNISBN 0307346609 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (abbreviated WWZ) is a novel by Max Brooks which chronicles a fictional zombie apocalypse, specifically the titular "Zombie World War", as a series of after-the-fact oral history interviews with prominent survivors.

Though a follow-up to his humorously deadpan previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide, WWZ is more serious in tone, and strives to be both factually and psychologically convincing. The book was released on September 12, 2006. A film based upon the book is currently in development.

Background

Brooks explains that World War Z follows the "laws" set up in the Zombie Survival Guide, and that the guide exists in the world he set up as a precursor to the war.[1]

The zombies portrayed in the book are caused by a form of highly communicable pathogen, without any known cure or vaccine, transmitted through body fluids, most commonly through the bite by infected victims. Other animals, even microorganisms, will avoid the pathogen at all costs, as wild animals have been known to run in fear from zombies and bites will remain free of bacterial infection even after several days. Symptoms begin with an initial high fever and weakness, lasting between a few hours and several days, depending on the location of the bite and the constitution of the victim. Once the pathogen has sufficiently spread, the victim enters a comatose phase. Some bodily functions necessary for human survival cease and the rest operate at a modified capacity. When the coma ends, the victim emerges as a zombie.

Zombies are depicted as not needing sleep, air, or any other resource, only wandering ceaselessly in search of flesh (even along the ocean floor, allowing them to resurface years later on beaches). The diet of meat has no nutritional benefit for the zombie; it merely collects inside the zombie until it ruptures the gastrointestinal tract. In colder regions, the zombies can freeze during the winter, only to thaw during the spring and continue their incessant search for victims. However, they can last years before decomposing, even longer if the climate will naturally preserve them. The author describes regions still being cleared twelve years after the declared end of the "Zombie War."

When a zombie discovers a victim, it will emit a distinctive moan and give pursuit, with the moan attracting other nearby zombies to its source (with one zombie's "discovery" often leading to a chain reaction of hundreds of pursuing zombies). A zombie will continue to moan and stalk the victim until devouring its prey, losing track of it, or being destroyed.

Plot summary

Taking place in the near future, the book charts a war against the undead from global pandemic to mass panic, and then to an armed struggle to reclaim the planet. Rather than a grand overview or a single perspective, World War Z is instead a collection of individual accounts, each revealing an aspect of the larger plot and simultaneously presenting a very personal tale. These different accounts take the form of interviews between the author and the characters.

The pandemic begins in China, although its true origins are unknown. The Chinese government attempts to contain the infection by force, eventually concocting a crisis involving Taiwan in order to mask the true purpose of the increased military activity. The infection spreads to Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, where several outbreaks in major cities finally bring the plague to the attention of the world. Infected human organs on the worldwide black market also cause prominent outbreaks in several First World cities.

As the infection spreads across the world, only a few countries take steps to initiate nationwide quarantine programs. Israel is one of these few countries, having specifically trained its intelligence services never to dismiss a threat, no matter how unbelievable. The United States, sapped of political will by several "brushfire wars" and lulled into a false sense of security by an ineffective vaccine called "Phalanx" marketed by an opportunistic pharmaceutical tycoon, sends Special Forces units around the world to combat local outbreaks, but otherwise does little to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic. Eventually the epidemic begins to overwhelm the human race, leading to a period known as the "Great Panic." The US Army sends a task force to Yonkers, New York in a high-profile military campaign intended to restore American morale, but due to the commanding officer's reliance on Cold War-era tactics and equipment and the unforeseen ability of the new Land Warrior system to spread panic in the ranks, the force is routed and the military command dissolves into a retreat to the West coast. Other countries are also hinted as having launched similarly ineffective military efforts against their own infections.

The turning point of the war comes in South Africa, where the government adopts a plan drafted by an ex-apartheid government official, named Paul Redeker. The plan calls for the government to establish a relatively small "safe zone" within which the infection should be eradicated, ideally to be protected by natural barriers such as mountain ranges or river valleys. Small groups of refugees are to be kept alive outside the safe zone for the purpose of distracting the hordes of undead and allowing those within the safe zone time to regroup. This aspect of the plan, while critical to its effectiveness, is widely regarded as cynical and heartless, causing a great deal of antipathy toward its creator. Nonetheless, the "Redeker Plan" is quickly adopted by various governments worldwide.

Within the confines of the "Redeker Plan" in its various forms, the nations of the world begin a determined effort to wipe out the undead plague. The United States, after establishing the area west of the Rocky Mountains as its safe zone, and restructuring its economy for complete wartime production, reforms its military tactics to better cope with massive battles against hordes of zombies. Combat aircraft and armored vehicles are almost completely abandoned, and the infantry forces are equipped with new rifles that sacrifice rate and ease of fire for reliability and accuracy. 19th-century tactical concepts such as the infantry square are also revived for anti-zombie combat. The armies of other nations undergo similar changes to varying degrees, although some nations adopt highly unorthodox strategies to eliminate their infestations.

At the time the book is supposed to have been written, ten years after the "official" end of the worldwide zombie war, the undead are still quite active. In colder areas of the globe, outbreaks occur every spring as frozen zombies thaw and find their way to human populations. Large swarms still roam the ocean floor and occasionally emerge onto dry land, and due to the inordinate expense of combing the oceans killing zombies, several governments have initiated tagging and monitoring programs for undersea swarms. Several regions, most notably Iceland, are still completely overrun.

"Z War One" or "World War Z" has completely altered the geopolitical landscape of the Earth. In an ironic twist on current affairs, Cuba has become the world's most thriving economy, and fills a role similar to the current role of Switzerland as an international banking capital. Russia has undergone a religious revolution and is now an aggressively expansionist theocracy, having conquered several of the former Soviet republics even before fully eradicating its own zombie infestation. China has undergone a civil war, resulting in a less authoritarian government, and its power on the world stage has been severely reduced; Tibet is now an independent country. The entire population of North Korea simply vanished, and nobody is yet willing mount an expedition to find out why, due to automated heavy weapon emplacements and fear of releasing a second major infestation. Major effects of the war are a drastic reduction in the human population of the Earth and the devastation of many natural environments, as much by desperate humans as by marauding zombies. International unity is much stronger than before the war, and the United Nations fields a large military constantly engaged in eliminating the remaining undead.

Audiobook

An abridged audiobook was published in 2007 by Random House, directed by John McElroy, produced by Dan Zitt, with sound editing by Charles De Montebello. The book is read by author Max Brooks, but includes many other actors taking on the roles of the many individual characters who are interviewed in the novel:

The audiobook was awarded with the 2007 Audie Award for best Multi-Voiced Performance.[3]

Film adaptation

A film adaptation is in development, following a bidding war between Brad Pitt and Leonardo Di Caprio's production companies, with the rights being obtained by Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment and the screenplay being written by Babylon 5 and Rising Stars creator J. Michael Straczynski.[4]

References

  1. ^ "EAT MY BRAINS! Exclusive Interview: Max Brooks on World War Z - Feature Article". Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  2. ^ front cover of five-disk CD packaging, ISBN 978-0-7393-6640-0
  3. ^ Audio Publishers Association (2007). "Audie Award press release" (.pdf). Audio Publishers Association. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Nicole LaPorte, Michael Fleming (2006). "Par, Plan B raise 'Zombie'". Variety. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

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